Special thanks

There have been a few special people who have made this experience even better than I was expecting it to be, and I would like to dedicate this blog to them.

First off, Mr. Stapleton. Thank you for meandering down the hallway of our white house whenever the conversation began getting heated in this room. You always managed to bring arguments and debates up to a higher level of

Kyle and myself at lunch in the Hearst Tower. (Photo by Brigid Heslin)

thinking. I know that mostly I sat back and observed most of those debates (often between Devin and Ms. Sheehan), but watching the way you would point out inconsistencies in both sides never failed to be amusing and thought provoking.

Second, I would like to thank all of the New Visions students from previous year’s classes that came in on their breaks from college to talk to us about their experiences in college and where they are headed in their futures.

Of these students I would like to personally thank Kyle Bryans, who has become one of my best friends. Thank you for being there for me when I needed to talk about anything and everything. You have kept me sane on countless St. Rose days. And lets not forget that very first subway ride of mine in New York City. Yeah, thanks for that, I was freaking out. Oh, and thanks for teaching me that thing where we throw our hands up in the air and do some silent screaming when no one is looking. That has helped more times than I can count. You have truly been the icing on the cake of my New Visions experience. I know you will go on to do great things.

To everyone at the TU, especially my mentor, Sarah Hinman-Ryan, thank you for allow me this great experience, it has been an honor to get to know all of you and work with real-world material as a high school student.

To the people at BOCES who make this program possible, thank you thank you thank you, this program has done SO much for me, it is an amazing opportunity that I hope students will be able to experience for many many years to come.